Please note there has been an addition to section #3 of the Terms of Service.

3. Accounts will not be deleted upon request / One account per member

Sometimes if people are not happy with their experience at a forum and wish to leave, they ask to have their account deleted, along with all their posts. Member accounts will not be deleted upon request, but they can be deactivated. The member's posts will not be deleted upon request because this would mess up the continuity of any threads in which they were involved in, and therefore cause inconvenience to other members. Members may only have one account. Creating an account with a different user ID after receiving a ban is not permitted and will result in an automatic ban. Additionally the creation of an account commonly known as a "sock puppet" account (and/or an account where the true [IP address] identity has been concealed in some fashion for the purpose of deceit) will result in an immediate permanent ban.

Please note a new section about Private Messages has been added to the Terms of Service which comes into effect immediately.

5. Private Messages (PM's)

We respect individual members right to privacy when sending Private Messages (PM's). Anyone posting the content of a PM in the forums without getting prior permission from the sender will receive an immediate seven day suspension to give the staff team time to review the situation and to decide whether any further action is to be taken.

Please note there has been an addition to section #2 of the Terms of Service:

- This is not a "comparative religion site", it is a site to learn and discuss the Buddha's teachings without animosity.
- In support of this:

* Badmouthing of other spiritual paths is not allowed.
* Proselyting / evangelizing other paths, which includes, for example, arguing that some other path is superior to the Buddhist path is not allowed.

Dharma Wheel and related sites of the site owner are owned and operated out of the U.S. As such it comes under the guidelines of 47 US Code Section 230(c)(1), including the Communications Decency Act, which provides owners, administrators, moderators, and posters immunity from any content in here posted by someone else. Each is responsible for their own post and the team has no liability even if administrators and/or moderators fail to remove an alleged offending post. Therefore, any poster who makes legal threats against anyone on this forum will be grounds for immediate banning.

**History has shown discussions about Shugden/Dolgyal on websites such as this one result in flame wars. The management has taken a decision not to allow reference to or any discussion/debate of, and that means from all sides, all things Shugden/Dolgyal including: Teachers, monasteries, associated organizations, images, audio/video, written publications etc.

Please note Due to an excessive amount of crude language, personal attacks, and harsh speech in general here on Dharma Wheel in the last few months, the administration has decided to implement an addition to the Terms Of Service. Please take note and read the link regarding "Right Speech".

Be polite. Rudeness in any form will not be tolerated. As a Mahayana Buddhist forum, we expect members to do their best to uphold the conduct of "Right Speech" as taught by the Buddha. Please read Right Speech and Enlightened Discussion for further information. Any member who is not attempting to abide by this conduct and is intentionally unpleasant will initially be suspended to give the moderating team time to discuss if there is to be further action.